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Oil Change to Synthetic

The car had 2,333 miles on it when I arrived at Stevens Creek Toyota for my first oil change.  I know a lot of people debate when to first change your oil, how long to wait to put in synthetic oil, etc. etc.  For me, it just felt right to take the car in about now and switch it over to synthetic, so apologies if I don't meet someone's standards of "oil excellence" :-)  I should point out that the dealership advertises a 29 minute service. That 29 minutes is from the time they write you up until the time your car is ready. Mine probably took a little longer, but I didn't car because I was bugging the mechanic by shooting the pictures.  I forgot to catch his name, but he was a nice guy and pointed out things for me to shoot.  I gave him the URL to this site so he could check out the finished pictures.  As always the pictures below are thumbnails, click on them for a larger version.  The videos on the next page will start when you hover over them.

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The Spyder takes 4 quarts of oil. I used Mobil 1 5-30 synthetic.  The dealer credited me $9 for bringing my own oil.

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The car in the work bay area.

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Here is the oil filter that the dealership provided. The number is 90915-YZZA2 for those of you keeping track.

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Now wouldn't it be nice to be able to raise your Spyder up that high at home?

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The Spyder actually has a couple of protective plastic shields underneath.  While it might be possible to change your oil without removing them, I wouldn't recommend it.

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The first step to removing the plastic cover is to take out these snap in, snap out clips on either side with a flat blade screwdriver.

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The next step is to remove the 10mm screws that are holding in the plastic cover.

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Here is the plastic protective piece removed from the car.

 

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Lining up the oil catcher to catch the oil from the filter and the pan.

 

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Here the mechanic has his oil filter removal wrench on the oil filter.  When he loosened this a fair amount of oil ran out, so be ready to catch it if you do this yourself.  Notice that the filter is a bit hard to get to as well.

 

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Here is the new oil filter on the car.

 

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Out with the old oil! I didn't see any metal chunks, do that's a good sign. :-)

 

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Close up of the black plastic cover when being re-attached. Make sure you put the screw through both covers on the back screws, otherwise the back cover won't be attached at the bottom.

 

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While the mechanic attached the black cover, I thought I'd take my valve cover off. Just kidding, this was a new Celica GT-S parked nearby. Thought this picture might be of interest to some.

 

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Finally, in with the new Mobil 1 motor oil!